No. 46 Yale to Face No. 53 Dartmouth and No. 56 Harvard

Vicky Brook (Photo by Don Clark, Yale Sports Publicity)

Apr 15, 2010

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – No. 46 Yale (14-5)
will face two of its toughest challenges of the season when it
travels to Hanover to face No. 53 Dartmouth Friday and then hosts
No. 56 Harvard Sunday. The Bulldogs will look to improve upon
its 3-1 Ivy League record in must win matches as they pursue a
berth in the NCAA Tournament.

To date, Dartmouth has posted a 16-3 record. The Big Green
is 3-1 in the Ivy League with victories over Cornell, Columbia, and
Penn. The lone loss came against Princeton.

The Harvard tennis team has posted an 11-7 record so far this
season, including 3-1 mark in the Ivy League. Harvard's three
Ivy League victories came against Cornell, Columbia, and
Penn. It's lone loss came against Princeton.

The Season to Date

The 2008 Ivy League Champion Bulldogs have posted a 14-5 record
with five victories over ranked opponents. Yale has defeated
William & Mary, Wake Forrest, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Boston
University. All five of Yale's losses have come against
ranked opponents including a loss against defending national
champion No. 1 Duke. Yale won the ECAC Indoor Championship
earlier this season at Harvard University. Yale's impressive
resume this season includes a national ranking as high as No. 28
and an ECAC Championship.

The Bulldogs have begun the Ivy League season with a 3-1 record
with 7-0 victories over Penn and Cornell and a 6-1 win over
Columbia.

History Lesson

Yale faced both Dartmouth and Harvard earlier this season in the
ECAC Indoor Championships. The Bulldogs defeated Harvard 6-1
in the semifinals. Yale then claimed the ECAC Championship
with a 4-0 victory over Dartmouth.

The Bulldogs are undefeated against Dartmouth during Danielle
Lund McNamara's tenure as head coach. Yale's lone loss to
Harvard during that tenure came in last season's finale. The
loss is what kept the Bulldogs from a second consecutive Ivy League
Championship and NCAA Berth.

Six Returning Players

The Bulldogs return six players from last season's squad,
including five starters. Senior captain Sarah Lederhandler
and senior Jessica Rhee have both started all four of their years
at Yale. Juniors Lindsay Clark and Stevi Petrelli have also
been contributors as starters every season they have been at
Yale. Sophomore Vicky Brook posted an undefeated 7-0 record
in the Ivy League at the No. 3 singles slot as a freshman.
Brook begins the spring season with sophomore newcomer Stephanie
Kent ranked No. 41 in the ITA doubles rankings.

Three New Additions

Yale adds three players to its squad this season.
Sophomore Stephanie Kent, a transfer from Cornell, had a successful
fall season for the Bulldogs and begins the season ranked No. 87 in
the ITA individual rankings. Her successful fall season
included impressive performances in both the ITA National Indoor
Championships and ITA Northeast Regional Championships. Kent
also starts the season ranked No. 41 in the nation in doubles with
partner Vicky Brook.

Freshman Elizabeth Epstein, Yale's blue chip recruit from
Chicago, Ill., will start the season ranked No. 122 in the
nation. Yale also adds freshman Jenna Ritz to its
roster.

2009 ITA National Indoor Championships

Yale played host to the 2009 ITA National Indoor Championships
from Nov. 5 to Nov. 8 at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.
The 2009 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, the
nation's premier collegiate indoor tennis tournament, is the second
of three national championship events for college tennis this
season. The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships
featured a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles
field.

The draws were made up of qualifiers from Wilson / ITA Regional
Championships held across the country, the ITA National Small
College Championships, top performers from the ITA All-American
Championships, and at-large wild card selections made by the ITA
National Tournament Committee.

As host of the tournament, the Bulldogs received two singles
bids and one doubles bid. In the first round of the
tournament, the No. 8 seeded singles player edged sophomore
Stephanie Kent in three sets. Kent then won a consolation
singles match over Auburn's Fan Chichieva, the No. 4 seed in the
consolation singles draw.

Kent and Brook competed in the ITA National doubles draw.
Rhee also competed in the ITA National singles draw.

There's No Place Like Home

The Bulldogs have won 25 of their last 26 matches at home dating
back to 2007. Yale has lost only once with Danielle Lund
McNamara as its head coach.

The Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center serves as home for the
Bulldogs. The fabulous eight-court facility complete with a
spectacular viewing area and lobby has been serving as the home of
Yale tennis since 2008.

The Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center was made possible by the
generous leadership gifts from Sam Heyman '60 and the estate of the
late Joseph Cullman III. The project includes a new building with
four new courts that are attached to the existing four Cullman
Courts. Additionally, the renovation includes team locker rooms, a
team room and coaches' offices. The new spacious lobby has been
named by Larry Leeds `50 in honor of his son Cary '79. The eight
courts have been named to recognize great figures in Yale Tennis
history.

The Blue Aces Fan Club

The Blue Aces Fan Club is the official fan club for the Yale
Bulldogs women's tennis team. It's free to join.

Yale posted an undefeated 7-0 record in the Ivy League in 2008
to win its first Ivy League Title since 1989 and its first outright
Ivy League Title since 1981. In their first ever NCAA Tournament
appearance, the Bulldogs fell in the first round against No. 2 seed
Georgia.

The Bulldogs finished the year with an Intercollegiate Tennis
Association East region ranking of No. 6 and an ITA national
ranking of No. 74. The East Regional rank of No. 6 was the highest
of an Ivy League team in the end of the year rankings. The Bulldogs
trailed only William & Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University,
University of Virginia, Marshall and Virginia Tech in the end of
the year regional rankings.